The SF Chronicle asked about our deepest concerns about Califrnia's June 15 reopening?
Here's how I responded:
Good morning~
I have a question that I hope you'll help me with even if you don't find my concern useful for your column on the June 15 reopening.
What about the bear in the window and the signs? When do we remove them? In early April 2020 I put the comfort bear in my living room window at the request of a friend and neighbor with a little boy. It was made from an item of clothing of my mother after she died and had been in the back bedroom window overlooking the garden in honor of my mother's wish to be outdoors as much as possible, expressed in her Advance Health Care Directive. Then her dementia caused her to be afraid of going outdoors.
When I put Mama Bear at the window on a cushion on top of the back of the sofa, facing west across the street to Larsen Park and then the Pacific Ocean. I expected her to topple over, but in all these months, she never has. I hope she's been of some comfort to the child next door and other passers-by. She's been a comfort to me.
On the window I've also put signs like the Thank You to frontline workers one the SF Chronicle furnished back in April 2020, when San Franciscans sang along to "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." I have a star representing the only one I know who died of Covid-19. There's also a sign for Racial Justice.
When should this bear be removed? What about the signs?
Your reader,
Tina Martin
